26 Years of Strategic Technology Partnering: Investigating Trends, Patterns and Future Prospects in Research Through Frequency Analysis

Many firms are increasingly cooperating in their technological undertakings. They engage in strategic technology partnerships (STP) for technological, commercial, industrial, and financial reasons. STP is deemed imperative for easing access to strands of technologies that are unknown to a company. This frequency analysis on STP is based on systematic literature review (SLR) approach and provides a thorough review of 57 articles published in highly-ranked peer-reviewed journals spanning a 26-year period from 1988 to the beginning of 2014. Research on STP is somewhat fragmented which, renders some of the research studies irreconcilable and impedes a greater understanding and consistency of the discipline. There is still a growing body of literature on the subject matter from various disciplinary perspectives which adopt various theoretical and methodological lenses at diverse levels of analysis. In the current paper, we analyze among other things the various methodological, research and theoretical issues underpinning STP and propose a research agenda. Hence, we contribute to the existing body of knowledge on STP literature by offering a state-of-the-art overview of current research and elaborating on promising areas for further investigation.